On his home debut, Lukaku had a lively start. In the first couple minutes, he was caught offside on a ball he finished. In the fifth minute, he held his run and scored an early opener.
Kevin Mirallas bolted down the right flank and cut back a ball inside the penalty area that Lukaku side-footed home with ease. It was Lukaku’s fifth goal in his last five Premier League games.
Everton’s free-flowing possession style showed well in the first half, contrasting with Newcastle’s inability to keep the ball in the back. While the Magpies struggled to string passes together, the Toffees completed 215 of 251 attempted passes in the first half.
After scoring the opener, Lukaku created a second in the 25th minute. He dribbled across the face of Newcastle’s central defense to open up a gap, which Ross Barkley exploited with an incisive run. Lukaku slipped him in, and local boy Barkley finished coolly.
Lukaku’s second came much more directly.
In the 37th minute, goalkeeper Tim Howard launched a clearance from his feet into Lukaku’s path, and center back Fabricio Coloccini and goalkeeper Tim Krul both misjudged it, allowing Lukaku to waltz the ball into the goal. Howard claimed the assist, matching fellow American international Brad Guzan’s against Manchester City on Saturday.
Newcastle’s best opportunity of the half came in stoppage time, when Hatem Ben Arfa hit a shot from outside the penalty area that forced Howard into a diving save, down to his left. Ben Arfa was part of a starting lineup for Newcastle that included 11 foreigners.
However, as good as Everton was in the first half, Newcastle nearly matched it in the second.
The visitors jumped out of the blocks quickly in the second half, as Yoan Gouffran hit the post. In the 51st minute, halftime substitute Yohan Cabaye pulled one back for the Magpies.
He received a pass from Gouffran outside the penalty area on the left side and turned to face goal. With no pressure, he lifted a shot over Howard that dipped under the crossbar and inside the far post.
In the 80th minute, Everton midfielder Gareth Barry picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Cheik Tioté. Barry played his 500th Premier League game on Monday, making him the 10th player to that mark and the fourth active player, behind Ryan Giggs, Frank Lampark and Mark Schwarzer.
Newcastle midfielder Loïc Rémy capped the scoring one minute from time, tussling with Phil Jagielka and winning a ball inside Everton’s penalty area. He bumbled the ball beyond Howard, and he went just over the bar in stoppage time to nearly complete the improbable comeback, but it was not to be.
Everton (3-3-0, 12 points, fourth place) is on short rest this week, playing the very next Premier League fixture, early on Saturday at Manchester City. Newcastle (2-1-3, 7 points, 16th place) barely gets more of a break, taking on Cardiff City at 10 a.m. ET on the same day in Wales.
Lineups
Everton (4-2-3-1): Tim Howard — Leighton Baines, Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka, Seamus Coleman — Gareth Barry, James McCarthy — Leon Osman (John Stones, 90+1), Ross Barkley (Steven Naismith, 87), Kevin Mirallas (Gerard Deulofeu, 72) — Romelu Lukaku
Unused substitutes: Joel Robles — Johnny Heitinga, Nikica Jelavić, Arouna Koné
Newcastle (4-3-3): Tim Krul — Davide Santon, Fabricio Coloccini, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (Michael Williamson, 46), Mathieu Debuchy — Cheik Tioté, Moussa Sissoko, Vurnon Anita (Papiss Demba Cissé, 69) — Hatem Ben Arfa (Yohan Cabaye, 46), Loïc Rémy, Yoan Gouffran
Unused substitutes: Robert Elliot — Paul Dummett, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi
